by Rev. Kathryn Schreiber, Pastor, Berkeley Chinese COMMUNITY Church, UCC
On a cool, drizzly early spring afternoon in 2016 folks gathered in Berkeley near a vacant parking lot. We had been invited to gather by Corrina Gould, now Tribal Chair for the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation. Days before, construction workers in Berkeley had uncovered “pre-contact” indigenous human remains. The indigenous peoples have always known this area was part of their sacred site of West Berkeley Shellmound, though The City of Berkeley’s 2000 landmark status safeguarded a much smaller area.
When we gathered on April 10, 2016, we felt anger and wanted to DO something. Leader Corrina recognized the urge, but asked us, first, to care for the ancestor who had been disturbed after thousands of years of sacred rest. We prayed – each offering a prayer or song from our faith tradition. Justice work would follow.
Years ago, I heard Sandhya Jha, ordained Disciples of Christ pastor, activist, and scholar, quote Adrienne Maree Brown about “organizing at the speed of relationship.” What follows are a few stories about growing relationships between local indigenous people and UCC folks in the Bay Area.
In 2007 or 2008, a UCC colleague asked if United Church of Hayward, UCC (UCH), the congregation I was serving, could host the Indian People Organizing for Change’s Shellmound Prayer Walk. Jonella Rose and Corrina Gould led these prayer visits to sacred sites for ancestral guidance. They were in need of overnight accommodation in our area. We said yes. That led to years of relationship building and the congregation’s engagement in local indigenous actions. Through Corrina, we hosted a number of Prayer Walks.
The 2010, the Shellmound Prayer Walk took the northern loop, including a visit to Sogorea Te’ Shellmound (Vallejo). A year later, when desecration of that sacred site was imminent Corrina Gould, Jonella LaRose, and Wounded Knee DeOcampo (may he rest in peace), as advised by elders, lit a sacred fire. On April 14, 2011, a spiritual encampment of 100 people gathered to prevent municipal development. Over 109 days, thousands came from far and wide to pray, including NCNC UCC folks. A municipal agreement was signed and then broken. However, during the sacred encampment a collective vision was given – to seek the rematriation of sacred sites throughout the Bay Area. In 2015, The Sogorea Te’ Land Trust was founded for that purpose. Today, they are internationally recognized leaders in the Land Back Movement.
In 2018, in Berkeley, increasingly wild legal twists and turns arose, as did creative efforts to protect the West Berkeley Shellmound by returning this urban land to the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation. A network of native, non-profit, political, and unaffiliated allies grew relationship by relationship. Rooted in sacred and dignified practices, amid very ugly power plays, something big and beautiful was alive and growing: a dream of the ancestors.
During the first year of COVID, NCNC UCC’s then Conference Minister, Diane Weible, initiated a season of intentional racial awakenings. Preparing for our Annual Gathering 2020 (online), four teams were created to address specific racial themes. Dr. Sharon Fennema, KJ Gilje, Judy Hawkins, Rev. Lacey Hunter, and Rev. Kathryn Schreiber were tasked with drafting a resolution to address relationships with local indigenous communities. The Resolution: “Making Amends for A Colonizing Past: Learning and acknowledging our inherited history, praying for repair and right relationship, and taking courageous and humble action for land protection and justice” included our native friends top request – the return of ancestral lands and support for organizations such as The Sogorea Te’ Land Trust.
At our 2021 NCNC UCC Annual Gathering (online), we made the difficult decision to sell Camp Cazadero. The Conference’s Finance and Administrative Business Committee (FABC), directed by the Conference Council, honoring the “Making Amends for A Colonizing Past” Resolution, designated a percentage of the interest from the sale of Camp Caz to support indigenous organizations. The Sogorea Te’ Land Trust is the only group submitted for funding. To date, according to Richard Brabham of the NCNC UCC FABC, $45,000 has been given to The Sogorea Te’ Land Trust.
On March 12th this year, after years of legal battles, Berkeley’s City Council voted unanimously to give the title to the West Berkeley Shellmound to the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust. Commercial property owners Ruegg & Ellsworth sold the land to the City of Berkeley for $27 million. The Sogorea Te’ Land Trust contributed $25.5 million, including a very generous gift given specifically for buying back the Shellmound. The City of Berkeley paid the balance of $1.5 million. The West Berkeley Shellmound’s perpetual liberation was secured.
The next day we began celebrating the return of this 5,700 year old sacred site – the largest urban Land Back action in California. Dear NCNC people, please know that your prayers and donations helped make this possible. On the following day, Lay Pastor Tomoko Murao-Fuse (Sycamore UCC) and I went to pay our respects and offer prayers, “doing ministry in public.”
In July, the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation hosted a grand event at the West Berkeley Shellmound. I cannot recall such a gathering of absolute joy, hope, and the very best hugs! UCC folks attending included Rev Deborah Lee, a long-term front-line supporter (Sycamore UCC), Qaisul Takihunang PSR Seminarian and Indigenous Taiwanese (First Church Berkeley, UCC), and myself (Berkeley Chinese Community Church, UCC – the closest UCC congregation to this indigenous sacred site).
As we observe the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, a day known as “Things-Taken” in some native circles, let us be both humbled and hopeful. Dear Ones, there are wondrous holy powers at work healing what has been broken. Relationships of all sorts, on Earth and in Heaven, are forged and tended for the well-being of all being, including all our precious children. Let us keep awake and listen, God is still speaking. There are more healing relationships for us to tend.
Aho. Amen.
Questions for Reflection
- How did your own bodymindspirit respond as you read this story of decades-long relationships building and organizing? What does that response teach you about where your strengths and growing edges might be in the slow work of decolonizing?
- What examples do you recognize in this story of what it takes to stay in “the work” for the long haul? What spiritual practices do you have to sustain your own justice-making?
- How are you and your community in relationship with the indigenous stewards of the lands you now inhabit? How would you like to be? How can you imagine moving from what is to what you hope and imagine could be?
Prayer
Sojourning God, who travels with us in the pathways of repair, we are grateful that you move at the speed of relationship with us, challenging us to grow and staying with us when we need to turn around. Keep us on the journey, our Redeemer and Guide, so that we might be a part of tending relationships that lead to more flourishing, more justice, more love. With true gratitude reaching toward healing beyond Thanksgiving, we pray. Amen.
Go Deeper, Learn More
- Rematriation: Indigenous Women’s Work to Recover, Remember and Heal
- Return of West Berkeley Shellmound (Sogorea Te’ Land Trust)
- Return of West Berkeley Shellmound (KQED)
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